Projects Barrows Coupe aka “FIRST BORN” 1930 Model A (1970’s build )

...... wash the car.

Soap and water brings the car out of its tomb. Where it's meant to be seen. Enjoyed. Please dear God ... wash the damn car.

BUT .... as is said ... it's your car. Do as you shall. F#ck it. Yes ?

 

If he could make something that nice in a dirt floor shed with limited tools and knowledge, I can't imagine what he made later in life. Very talented dude. How much did he chop out of it? 5"?

 

Brads built more cars than I can count, all of them are pretty bad ass and outside the box. After he built them he drove the shit out of them, while he was driving them he was already building another one and so forth.

Truly talented guy

 

I'm jumping in late, but just wanted to commend Mike on his endless energy to make things happen. He just about killed himself working crazy hours to get Brad paid before he left for Florida; an amazing feat ( even though he is still a kid!). You just never know what's going to happen .It was a great thing to be on the sidelines for this whole thing, and the icing on the cake will be tomorrow when we roll into the "Gathering of the Faithful" together.
Mike and I met on the HAMB last year when he started his '29 Model A sedan build.)

A couple more pics from the big day....

 

way cool

 

I wanted to give a breakdown of the build before we get too far ahead.

Brad had a friend who’s uncle owned a junkyard.
His friend wasn’t a car guys but brad was and brad said his buddies uncle liked him.
So brad has access to basically any parts he wanted when putting his coupe together.

The car started out as mentioned before. $50 bucks for the body and frame rails and started there.

The front 36” of the frame and horns were removed from the A chassis.
They were set aside for the time being.
Brad then built a custom 2X4 box frame that he double Z’d.
The front is stepped 4” while the rear is stepped 12”
He re welded the front frame section back onto the car just under the firewall. Just in front of the step.
The car sits on modified C2-C3 Chevy Corvette IRS
Brad cut and Z’d the rear control arms to get it as low as possible.

The front is a 6” dropped tube front axle w ford spindles


He made a custom 4 link for the front using a set of early ford wishbone ends w home made bat wings and round stock.

The drivetrain is also Corvette.
It’s a 1975 350 HP block w/ a Clay Smith cam and a Weiand 4X2 staggered intake w/ 4 Holley 94’s
Full length headers and glass packs that go straight out the back.

The body was then channeled 4” to sit down over the frame and the top was chopped 4.25”
Brad said early one morning trying to figure out how to suicide the doors he had idea ...
“what if”
He flipped the drivers door to the pass side and the pass to the drivers side... so he did.
So now the car has suicide doors.
I’m not sure you would be able to get in and out of this car if he hadn’t.


The chrome trim on the doors is from the interior of a 53 Chevy.
The car was first built with the roof skin from a 70’s Mercedes that housed a moonroof.
Due to continuous leaking issues he removed it and filled the roof with a solid skin from another donor car.
He then covered it with a white Naugahyde sheet.
The current front brakes are 1969-73 Camaro calipers and rears are Corvette 4 piston units.

The gas tank he built for the car was from a stack of old chrome sheets he got from a printing shop. I believe he said it was a relatives, after a while they would replace these in the printing shop so Brad took them and shaped and welded them into a gas tank.
It’s 20 gallons give or take.

You can still see the remnants of the chrome under the black paint.
He said it started to look like crap so he painted it with the body.

Brad has access to whatever parts he needed from that junkyard and he sure came up with some awesome stuff.

The car was originally built with a 396 BB Chevy, It was short lived.
He said it was heavy as hell and had constant over heating issues.
In his attempt to cure the over heating he plumbed an auxiliary radiator in the rear of the car.
It was from an MG and retains the orig electric fan.
It’s tucked up under the rear of the seat in front of the rear suspension.
It’s plumbed using 3/4” copper pipe and fitting from a local hardware store back in the day.

In between that big block and the auxiliary radiator he added a heater for inside the car.
Everything still works.
The fan for the aux radiator is controlled by a switch on the dash as well as the heater.


The dash itself is Custom
The gauges are both SW and MG.
The amp gauge and oil pressure both SW where as fuel and temp were removed from the same MG the radiator came from as well as the fuel sending unit.
He was never able to get the fuel gauge working unfortunately.
He used a wooden dowel ... it came with the car.
The car does not have a Speedo or Tach ... it’s a seat of the pants kinda ride I guess.

The steering column is from a 1971 Chrysler Imperial.
Column shift for the turbo hydro
It tilts and telescopes... it’s cool as hell.

The seat was removed from a 1975 Ford Pinto station wagon
It is the rear seat from the wagon and unmodified to fit.
It is super comfortable and is sleek enough he was 6’ plus and retained the package tray behind the seat.

He pleated the whole interior and used leather dye to get it the colors he was looking for



I’ve got a busy day ahead of me guys ... I’ll catch you all up to speed tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the good words !
I’m glad people are loving this car as much as I did the first time I laid eyes on it

The day after it arrived home





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Kick ass car man. Congrats.


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Wow, some of those build details I was not expecting. It looks like such an older build than some of those parts are. If I had access to a junkyard, it would be my personal playground / parts store also. Cool stuff, have fun.

 

Over the past 6 weeks I had been picking away at fuel, cooling, brakes, tires and suspension. Making sure I had all the vitals in good order to get the coupe back on the road.
As you would imagine, being built late 70’s driven like this car was and the the 20 years of sitting time had taken its toll on things.
I went back into hustle mode to work up the cash to get it back to shape.



A week ago today I took the car for its 1st drive. Had some things to sort out w the carburetors settings but I made it home



This past Friday I went for a good cruise to give it a good test ... all systems go !!


Took her home and gave her a bath

Went out behind the house for a few shots in the backyard

Saturday am @mikebowling and @wheeldog57 got to the house early and we rolled to The Gathering of The Faithful 2018
I had a sign made for the to pay tribute to Brad Barrows for his hard work creativity and his love of 50’s style hotrods.
I couldn’t have asked for a better guy to buy his very first car he ever built.
“First Born”



@generalgow doing his best attempt to fit in the coupe. It’s either really little or he’s really big


I never did buy those parts from Mike B.

Least I could do is buy him lunch ... he paid last time.



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I wish there was video of you getting out. You slithered out lol.


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WTF?...

Mike, a few of us recall your first posts some years ago, about looking for advice on the A sedan. We all told you to give up on useless old hotrod builds, and to get a life... Just KIDDING!!!

"you come a long way, baby" !

I'm also in total awe of what Brad has accomplished with all the other cars you guys took pics of..and apparently now has TWO homes?....starting with a rented dirt floor shed.. wow.

.

.

 

I’m glad I didn’t listen !! Or maybe I should have ... I don’t know. I am having the time of my life, Frank.
I always enjoy your posts and your sense of humor.
Thanks for chiming in on this one.

The corvette irs and disc brakes are what made me hesitant to post.
But Mike B. Set me straight.
.




"you come a long way, baby" !

THANK YOU !


I'm also in total awe of what Brad has accomplished with all the other cars you guys took pics of..and apparently now has TWO homes?....starting with a rented dirt floor shed.. wow.

Brad is an incredible guy. Just a wealth of knowledge and talent to say the least.

I’m honored to call him a friend and own a piece of his collection and legacy.



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The sign looks great ! Excellent -

 

Very cool

 

Man that car has a serious presence. The whole package looks so damn tough. Awesome to see it on the road. I think I took pictures of that car a long while back at Road Agents. Ill look and see

 

Honestly, I think this car embodies the "Traditionally Inspired" build style of the period in which it was constructed and represents. The car takes advantage of materials, methods, and parts available at the time while very strongly positioning itself in vintage kustom and traditional hot rod aesthetics at a time when there doesn't seem to have been much of that being built.

For instance, I don't think I've ever seen a 4 bar setup that I liked as much as the one on this car and the way it was made really impressed me. It looks right and it's made with the right stuff.

 

That 4-bar is made the way Norm made his on the Kookie Kar. Very cool!

 

Good job mike, a lot of stuff figured out in a short amount of time. Cool to see you getting some drive time on it before winter hits

 

Thanks buddy. I appreciate the help on your limited schedule.



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Haha, the battle rages! Mike always pretends he owes me lunch, so I protest mildly, and agree. He did let me get him a coffee Sunday ( he needed one after the week he put in). Big Thanks to him and his Lady, Allie for all the hard work. Keep an eye out for a hot blonde in a rail job at TROG- she’s a ringer!



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Looks like you're having a great time!

Not a huge deal, but I believe the tilt and telescoping column is from a 1965 Cadillac, not a Chrysler Imperial. It looks like he retained the telescoping lock ring even though he used a different steering wheel.

 

Thank you. I was going off his recollection of cars he pulled parts from.
Looks to be about right.
I appreciate you identifying that for me.


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Thanks Adam I appreciate it.

I’ve only seen the one I posted.
Brad had the windshield frame in that pic painted white after he painted the car black. He decided it looked like the car had sunglasses on and painted it body color shortly after.
Love to see some pics of you dig them up


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Gotta love this hot rod. Good on you Mike for retaining the car the way it was built long ago.

 

What a cool story glad you got the car it looks killer enjoy it and drive the hell out of it!

 

Few of the items I found in the car when I got it home and started going through it

The car has a working 8-track player w/pioneer speakers and a Craig Eq. Kinda neat
It is exactly as he built it in the 70’s and that is how it will remain.



The suicide knob was ordered from JC Whitney catalog.
The clear plastic cover unscrews. He cut up a playing card for the pinup girl.


The tail lights were a mystery to me for quite some time.

Watching American pickers I saw a 68-72 Chevy truck and there they were.
Bed side marker lights.
Brad converted them and used dual filament bulbs to convert them into brake and turn signals.
Quite ingenious if you ask me

A really cool picture a friend took in the side mirror of his 1967 Suburban at The Gathering of The Faithful






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Knew those lights looked familiar! Clever

 

Unique tail lights, and frenched in to boot! You can find little things on this car all over that are pretty amazing. Good Save, Podna!



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